It bugs me when people say “the thing is is that” (if you listen for it, you’ll start hearing it… or maybe that’s something that people only do in my area.) (“What the thing is is that…” is fine. But “the thing is is that…” bugs me.)
Also, “just because <blank> doesn’t mean <blank>.” That sentence structure invites one to take “just because <blank>” as a noun phrase which my brain really doesn’t want to do. Just doesn’t seem right. But that sentence structure is very common.
And I’m not saying there’s anything objectively wrong with either of these. Language is weird and complex and beautiful. It’s just fascinating that some commonly-used linguistic constructions just hit some people wrong sometimes.
Edit: I thought of another one. “As best as I can.” “The best I can” is fine, “as well as I can” is good, and “as best I can” is even fine. But “as best as” hurts.
There are a lot of phrases from reddit that annoy me due to overuse. “Play stupid games, win stupid prizes” and “fuck around and find out” both annoy the absolute piss right out of me now.
My absolute most hated saying from reddit is ‘boss makes a dollar, I make a dime, that’s why I shit on company time’. I don’t know, it just really irritates me! I totally agree with the sentiment, it’s just the rhyme makes it feel so childish and reactionary.
Reddit is global, and I’m sure they would pretend to be highly diverse. But the vibe I always got there was, “early teens, white boy, east coast, USA”.